A second door then opened to reveal the ?truck? which was in fact a home-made miniature fire engine built on a trailer base.

Firefighters Paul Herrington, Alastair Letchford, Brian Fearn, Adam Summers and Anna Van Leemputten, wearing their full uniform, pushed the ?truck? out of the garage and made siren noises.

After confirming that Father Christmas was stuck, they went about a ?structured and organised plan? to free him. First they tried using rods but this failed so they took a ladder from the truck and tried to pull him out from the top of the ?chimney?.

After a few minutes, Mr Evans exclaimed: ?With his dignity just about still intact, the brave souls of Henley?s finest managed to rescue Santa from his perilous situation ? using approved Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service extraction techniques.?

The crowd cheered when Father Christmas came down the ladder and hugged his saviours.

He then handed out presents to the children, including bookmarks and badges promoting fire safety.

Children were then given the chance to have a ride in the mini fire truck around the front of the station.

Jools Buckett, six, from Shiplake, said: ?I really wish I could be a fireman.?

The performance, which was sponsored by the Argyll pub in Market Place, was the second time that the Henley firefighters have been involved in the calendar. Last year, they performed their own version of The 12 Days of Christmas.

Mr Letchford said: ?It is good to engage the brigade with the community and we had a good laugh to be honest.?

Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered in Market Place on Sunday night to watch the first act being revealed.

Glee Club UK, from Caversham and Twyford, wore tinsel and Santa hats for their performance, which began with a rendition of It?s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

The group also performed Paul McCartney?s Pipes of Peace, a Christmas No 1in 1983, and Let It Snow and the audience was encouraged to dance along.

Julie Perigo, who created the calendar two years ago and chairs the Henley Partnership, and Henley Mayor Stefan Gawrysiak welcomed the crowds ahead of the performance.

They were joined by five-times Olympic skier Graham Bell who is an ambassador for watch company Bremont, which sponsored the night.

Ms Perigo said the calendar had gone ?magnificently well? so far.

She said: ?I think we have doubled our audiences this year. The first night we had over 200 people and the second over 100. It is so popular and people need to look at the locations and work out if they need to get there early.

?The feedback has been great and we have had families coming who have never been before.?